Author: Conrad Zbikowski

Conrad Zbikowski

About Conrad Zbikowski

Downtown Minneapolis resident covering local issues including parks, transportation, zoning, and development.

San Francisco Skyline From The Bay Near Fisherman's Wharf

Rent in San Francisco is $4,314; in Minneapolis, it’s $1,615

I recently reviewed a commercial real estate report from the first half of this year. Takeaway: Vacancy is steady at around 7 to 8 percent. The report got me thinking about home prices and rental rates across the country and what the humble dollar gets you in different cities. Check out all the Zillow data […]

Lyft MAX electric scooters parked near Gold Medal Park

Review: Lyft MAX Scooter by Segway-Ninebot

The first word that came to mind when taking my first ride was “solid”. With 10-inch tires (8-inch on older models) and a battery over double the size of previous generations, Lyft’s new MAX model developed by Segway-Ninebot is a beast engineered for the abuse cycle of rental scooters. Lyft introduced the MAX in the […]

Car free day cookies

Dispatch from Car-Free MSP Day

My 5am chariot awaits! @MoveMpls @MplsChamber @jweinhagen #carfreemsp pic.twitter.com/2BmLkctI64 — Andrea Carver (@AMCarver72) September 19, 2019 Andrea Carver, of Becker, started her car-free journey at 4:46 a.m. when she took the Northstar Commuter Rail to Minneapolis. At 6:10 a.m., she took the Blue Line light-rail train from Target Field Station to Nicollet, then walked on […]

Forest Lake Roundabout Traffic On The Route

Meet a Roundabout: U.S. 61 in Forest Lake

“Meet a Roundabout” is a new series of posts about roundabouts in the Twin Cities area that are improving traffic efficiency and safety. Posts include pictures and video of the roundabout and a history of how it came to be. This is the third post in the series. On Saturday, I drove my father to […]

Lime Scooters

Review: Lime Gen 3 Electric Scooter 🛴

One sunny day, I saw one of Lime’s new Gen 3 electric scooters parked on the plaza near the Guthrie Theater. Lime introduced the Gen 3 in October of 2018, but I haven’t seen any of the new scooters hitting Minneapolis streets until now. Excited to test ride the new model, I took it for […]

Model 3 Red

Graphic: What’s a Vehicle’s Carbon Footprint?

I recently took a test-drive in a Tesla Model 3. It was an impressive car, but the ride left me wondering: with all the electric horsepower under the hood, was it really better than a hybrid? The EPA has a dated, but functional website with all the fuel economy and energy efficiency information a driver […]

Scooter

Review: Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro Electric Scooter

Over the past several months, I have been disappointed with the availability of scooters, even in downtown Minneapolis, where they seem to be on every street corner. In the afternoon, as scooter batteries start to deplete, the nearest one with a full battery can sometimes be blocks away in the wrong direction. If you want […]

New Apartment Ne Mpls

Ritzy Rafter in CenHen Opens for Business

On Thursday, August 15, the new Rafter apartment building had its grand opening event. With fine hors-d’œuvres and libations, the parties gathered to celebrate the completion of another real estate development. It is said that the Rafter project is “named in honor of a group, or “rafter,” of wild turkeys known to call Northeast Minneapolis […]